[Tango-L] Better? Worse? Just different

[Myk Dowling]

On 14/04/11 05:14, Andrew RYSER SZYMAÑSKI wrote:
> A bit extreme isn't it? We have here in London a number of professional tango bands who have been together for over 10 years&  still sound, as some people have said, "like a Jewish wedding". They don't pack any punch. It's an effort to dance to them. They are highly skilled classical musos who play tango as if it was Mozart. A good example is Baremboim who, over 10 years ago made a CD "Tango among Friends" where he got the best tango sidemen from Bs As and the whole thing still ended up as a flop, because the fact that he himself was from Bs As did not guarantee that he could play a tango with the necessary "mugre".
I have to wonder, if these bands are so awful, who is hiring them to 
play at milongas? Who is telling them about the lack in their music? Are 
they willing to accept advice about dance music from dancers? If not, 
they shouldn't be playing dance music.
>   However, experienced improvising musicians can certainly deliver the goods,&  I've seen it done. Tango is a FEEL. You don't learn it at the conservatory, or by rehearsing until you're blue in the face.
True. My first piece of advice to aspiring tango musicians is to learn 
to dance tango, to appreciate the music as a dancer, so they know what 
makes good dance music.

Myk,
in Canberra